Spinjitzu Master(?)
by Watcher321
Summary: In the desert of the First Realm, Cole becomes separated from the other ninja and runs into an odd bunch of Spinjitzu trainees.
1. Chapter 1

Hey, friendly people! You know that episode in Season 9 where Iron Baron's like "they know the ways of the First Spinjitzu Master!" and we're all like, heck yeah they do! Well, the thought came to mind: why did he say_ first?_ Does this mean others practice Spinjitzu in the First Realm?

Hence, this. Enjoy!

* * *

It was turning out to be a very, very bad day for Cole. A bad day on top of a bad week. Or had it been two? A month? The constant, unchanging rolling of the desert sun over his head, ever since he'd arrived in the First Realm, made keeping track of time nearly impossible.

Then there had been the sandstorm. They'd only escaped the Dragon Hunters a few days before a roiling wall of gritty earth swept over them from the desert, and Cole didn't know how long it had been since.

Cole was the master of earth, he could control the sand and rock at will, but he couldn't control the wind. Despite his best efforts to keep the storm off his friends, the violent gusts had swept poor little Wu off his feet. Cole was concentrating so hard on keeping the debri away, he couldn't do anything as Jay ran off after Wu. He'd lost Kai and Zane soon after, and for endless hours all he could do was protect himself. Protect himself when he was supposed to be protecting his friends.

Yeah, he really needed to stop beating himself up about that, but these days life was pretty miserable anyway. Might as well kick himself while he's down.

Stumbling into the shade of a tall rock face, Cole wiped the sweat off his brow and leaned up against the warm stone for a rest. He'd rather it had been cool stone, but beggars can't be choosers, can they.

Cole stood there for a moment, relishing the relief the shade provided for his sun-scorched skin. After a moment he took a deep breath and stood straight, rolling his shoulders back as he squinted out at the blinding sand.

The way he'd come, where he'd lost his friends, offered only empty desert. When he looked the other way, along the cliff wall, he could see a series of canyons beginning maybe two miles away. The walls weren't very high, but they offered more shade than the desert, and maybe water.

Cole looked back at the windswept dunes. His friends were probably still out there, along with child-Wu. Who knew how long their pint-sized master would last against the elements. He looked up at the sky. The sandstorm must have lasted into the next morning, because the sun was _definitely_ not where it should've been right then.

He shook his head and let out a heavy, exhausted sigh. _Alright Cole,_ he told himself, trying to summon energy to his brain. _You're alone in a hostile realm, separated from your friends. What do you see? What can you do?_

The master of earth glanced toward the shallow canyons again. If his friends were still in the dunes, Cole would have to find them, but finding them would do no good if he didn't have a safe place to bring them back to.

Jay had been complaining about the sun for days, if he had Wu with him they would both beeline to the first shelter they saw.

Zane was logical, he would assume they would regroup at the nearest significant landmark.

Kai was the master of fire. He would be fine.

Nodding to himself, Cole began to follow the cliff line toward the canyons. He would find or make a safe place to hide, somewhere the Hunters would hopefully be able to overlook. When they had a base of operations, if the others hadn't shown up by then, he would look for them. He could trust his teammates, and he was pretty sure he could trust Wu, even if his master had been reverted to childhood. He was still a thousand years old or something, surely he'd be okay.

* * *

It was wonderful to be walking out of the sun, but Cole still felt it was taking longer than it should have to reach the canyons. If he was at full strength, two miles would have been a breeze, but right now his heels dragged and his ankles threatened to roll every time he put his weight wrong, which was every step.

Groaning, he stopped in the shade again only a little way into the maze, breathing deeply and trying to force oxygen to his muscles. Trying to fight a sandstorm really _had_ taken more out of him than he'd originally thought.

Suddenly there was a high-pitched _SCREAM_ echoing through the corridors. Cole's head shot up! It sounded like it had come from a child! _Wu?_

As the black ninja ran there was a rumbling _groan_ that followed. Definitely a dragon. He'd told Wu that dragons were friendly, but that was _before_ the whole dragons-are-hunted-and-apparently-don't-like-us bit of info had been dropped.

_I wish we were back in Ninjago._ Cole groaned inwardly.

Cole could hear huge feet shifting the sand and the whimpering and occasional _shriek_ of frightened children. _Children? More than one?_ No time, when he was close he dove behind a rock formation and and snuck in the rest of the way. Quietly, hidden in the thankfully deep shadows, (he was _not_ about to give the burning sun credit for it,) with his mask pulled down Cole assessed the situation.

There was indeed a dragon, an earth dragon only a little larger than Cole's own dragon, Rocky, used to be. From Cole's position he could see it investigating two squirming children between its feet. Neither of them were Wu, which both relieved and concerned Cole.

The earth ninja, like his companions, had spent plenty of time around dragons. He knew how to read them, and he especially knew earth dragons. He could see that the dragon wasn't aggressive, nor was it hungry (he could remember Rocky's lunch rushes vividly.) If anything it was just curious, but the kids didn't know that.

Cole stayed hidden for the moment, observing. Most likely the dragon would get bored and go away, but he waited in case it became aggressive, or worse, _playful._

With one eye on the dragon Cole started taking notes on the kids. They were Hunter children, which both puzzled and scared him. He could tell enough about life in the first realm that kids _probably_ shouldn't be out alone, and in that case where were the adults? Worse, if there were adults around, had they caught his friends? Were they hunting him now? Was this all a ruse, were there scarred men and women with chain guns surrounding him at this moment?

A quick glance around didn't provide Cole with any immediate conclusion, but he was even more wary than before now.

A war-cry broke and nearly made Cole jump out of hiding and reveal himself. It was a throaty "Yaaaaaaahh!" and came from the direction of the dragon, but it wasn't a dragon's voice.

There was a teen Hunter, a little younger than Cole himself, swinging a very shabby sword at the dragon's foreleg. Cole grimaced and cringed into his palm. That was not going to help.

The dragon was surprisingly unconcerned by the aggressive kid, which Cole found odd. Even he knew by now where there was one Hunter, there were a whole lot more. Even so, this couldn't end well, and Cole began to run scenarios through his head.

If he intervened now, he would be caught by whatever Hunters were on their way. If he didn't, the dragon _might_ decide to leave, or it _might_ decide to retaliate and end up hurting or killing all three of the Hunter children.

"HEY!" Said a female voice. Cole looked over to see a woman hunter aiming a bow at the dragon. "Leave my son alone!" She shouted. Cole dragged his fingers over his face and grit his teeth. _This just gets better and better. The dragon's not mad people, YET._

The arrow flew, and buried itself.

Right under the dragon's frill.

_Ouch._ Cole thought. That particular spot could determine a dragon's whole demeanor. Good for scratching, really, really bad for hitting. This was about to get ugly.

The dragon stumbled back, nearly treading on one of the Hunter kids, and let out a _SCREECH_ that shook the walls of the canyons. Snarling, it flapped its wings and raised a clawed hand to swat at the teen hunter.

"NINJAAA-GOOOOO!" Cole was there in a flash, a whirlwind of brown and black as he spinjitzued the hunter out of the way. The dragon missed them both by an inch, and Cole didn't waste a moment getting between the creature and it's quarry. His brain was shouting _NO you fool! What are you doing? They'll capture you, if you're not dragon chow first!_ Cole remained firm despite the rampant protests from every logical part of his brain. He had a dragon to stop.

The earth master caught the looks of absolute astonishment on the kids' faces out of the corner of his eye, but he ignored it. _Yeah, hi, just your average Master of Earth from another realm here. Don't mind me._ Instead he whirled into another round of spinjitzu, and threw wave after wave of sand into the dragon's face. If he was lucky, he could drive it away without hurting it.

_Or getting hurt._ The thought came as the dragon's tail _smacked_ Cole out of his cyclone, but his adrenaline was pumping, and he was right back up. _This is exhausting,_ Cole realized even as reserve energy pumped through him. He'd been out in the desert without food and water for too long. As he faced the dragon, he saw past it and realized that there were _a lot_ more hunters than before, all watching him. Probably waiting until the both of them were worn out.

The dragon could see the growing number of Hunters just as well as Cole could, and he saw its tail quiver. _It's taking off._ "Wait!" He cried, and he raced toward it. If the dragon was leaving, he wanted a one-way ticket with it. As the creature flapped and took off Cole summoned the foreign soil to him, and began jumping from spire to spire of rock, growing progressively higher as he leaped.

It was too late, the dragon was out of reach even as Cole faltered and fell an impressive distance back to the hunters below. He landed with a _thud_ and a _groan_.

Cole could feel the hunters around him, see them move from the corners of his eyes. He struggled up, but only made it to one knee, bent over breathing heavily in the sand. His adrenaline was gone, and it was _so hot_ and he was _so thirsty_ and _why did his gi have to be black!?_ His throat was tight, he couldn't breathe, couldn't get enough air into his lungs. He clawed at his hood and pulled it off, throwing it down in the sand as he sat there, watching the hunters warily with his head hanging.

He was totally a goner.


	2. Chapter 2

HEY yeah sorry. Don't worry, I'm plugging away, just really, really busy.

* * *

Cole heard footsteps behind him, and he thrust his fist into the sand. A boulder sprang up in the way of the approaching hunter. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see another attempting to move toward him. They experienced the same result.

This pattern continued for a few more minutes, but Cole was already exhausted and becoming faint. He struggled to keep his elementally manifested rocks together as they starting to crumble back into the dust he formed them from. Slowly he was building a wall around himself, but it was short and weak.

"Spinjitzu Master." Cole couldn't tell where the voice was coming from. He swung his head around listlessly, barely registering the battle-scarred faces surrounding him. The dark cliff walls looked so inviting, like the dark behind his eyelids.

There was whispering now, muddling up his head. The dragon hunters were conversing. "Spinjitzu Master." The voice was closer now. "We..."

Cole didn't hear the rest. His ears stopped working, then his breath shuddered, and he sighed as the black clouding his vision won.

* * *

When he came to Cole was lying on his back on a hard, but not uncomfortable, pallet. As he propped himself up he touched his face and discovered that it, along with all the rest of his exposed skin, was coated in a greasy oil of some kind. It was sweet smelling, but (he found out) did not taste very good. His left arm was wrapped in a thick, rubbery leaf of some sort. Touching the wrap made him sore, and it hurt worse the harder he pressed. After several painful tests he gave up investigating.

The room around him was dark, cool and dry. He ran his fingers along the rough edges of the wall he'd woken up against. It was made out of packed clay and sandy rocks, in bricks some places and haphazardly cobbled together in others.

Suddenly a sliver of yellow light opened up on the wall he was touching, and Cole turned around to see a young Hunter girl peeking into the room. The light spilled from behind a woven curtain used as the door. When she locked eyes with Cole mild surprise passed across her face, along with another emotion he couldn't identify before she was gone, and he was in the dark again.

Cole didn't know how long it was after he woke up, but it was long enough. He was cross-legged on the pallet, occupying himself with his injured arm. He prodded the wrap and flexed, trying to figure out what was wrong, trying to distract himself in general.

He refused to think about being injured, trapped in a Hunter's camp. He hoped he wasn't all the way back at Deads End, and when the thought came he pushed it away. There was nothing he could do right now, and he refused to work himself up wondering what the Hunters planned with him.

The curtain parted, this time all the way. The yellow light was milky and dim, but Cole had to squint to see the figure silhouetted in the doorway. They were tall, and cloaked in long robes. Cole braced himself.

"Please, Spinjitzu Master, we do not intend to harm you." There was the voice again, tired, smooth and feminine. The curtain closed, and Cole could see her clearly. Not the Baron. He reassured himself. Not the Baron. Just… just don't let them find a weakness. Act tough.

"I'll believe that when I see it." Cole said bluntly. Okay, not your best opening line. He tried to stare down the woman standing in front of him, and found it difficult to accomplish when she was at least a few inches taller than he was, impressive, and he was cross-legged on the floor.

The Hunter woman stepped toward him, and Cole's hand flashed to the dagger in his boot, ready to draw. She saw this, and after a moment's pause proceeded slowly, kneeling on the floor so she was slightly less taller than Cole.

The whole time she was moving Cole was watching her hands, waiting for her to draw a weapon from her robes. It never came, and it was only when she was seated comfortably in front of him did he meet her eyes.

That emotion he'd seen on the girl was there. It was guarded in the woman's eyes, but it was there.

"Are you hungry?" She asked.

Yes. Starving. "No." Cole answered.

She smiled sweetly. "Then would you allow me to see that injury?" As she spoke she leaned forward, but Cole leaned back, holding his arm close. "No, thank you." He said slowly, each word guarded and emphatic.

The Hunter woman nodded and stood up. Cole couldn't help but notice how poised she held herself even as she stood. It reminded him of how Master Wu stood, or Garmadon or Misako. They all carried themselves with a formality from another time. "I will leave you to rest then." She said, and turned and opened the curtain. The light spilled purple onto her robes. The huntress stopped a moment, regarding Cole with cool black eyes. "You saved our children from the dragon attack." She said. "We are very grateful for that."

Cole sighed and ran a hand through his hair which, he noticed, had been washed and was no longer full of sand. "It wasn't an attack." He mumbled, half to himself.

The huntress simply nodded and swept out the door. The curtain fell back and swung a moment, before coming to rest with a yellow glow seeping out from its edge. Cole was left in the dark, cool room, a dim sliver of light outlining his face as he leaned back and thought.

* * *

Cole was still cross-legged on the pallet, with his back against the wall and his eyes closed, when the woman came back again. He opened them just a hint as she set down a large bowl of what looked like a combination between soup and fruit salad. Fruit soup. She left again without a word.

The "fruit soup" tasted like vegetables and had some sort of chalky flour mixed in. Cole ate the whole thing, then scraped out the bowl for anything left. He was still starving when he was done, but the meal reminded him of his own cooking, and that soothed his worried mind. He couldn't help but smile, imagining the other ninja's reactions if he'd cooked it for them. Zane would sit there and swallow it, bite by painful bite, with a terse frown on his face. Jay would spend so much time talking about how bad it was that he wouldn't actually eat any, and after long enough Kai would get so fed up with the food and the blue ninja that he would throw his own bowl, splat, right in Jay's face!

Then Wu would look up with a stern frown under his beard, but sparks of amusement in his eyes. Lloyd would probably crack a joke that would cause Jay to throw his bowl into Lloyd's face, and Nya would roll her eyes and smile as the whole table descended into chaos.

Cole sighed with his eyes shut tight, trying to make every detail of the scene tangible. However, the pleasant moment faded when he remembered that most of these people were still lost somewhere in the desert. Lloyd and Nya were still back in Ninjago, and probably thought they were all dead. Cole couldn't sit here any longer, in case they turned out right.

Opening his eyes back in the dark room, Cole cast a thoughtful glance at the curtain door. If he was supposed to be a prisoner, the hunters would definitely have picked a sturdier door. Probably chains or something as well. So, surely they wouldn't mind if he just walked right out the front gate, right?

...Not that he would tell them.

Cole found his ninja hood by the head of his pallet, and when it was securely attached to his gi he stood by the doorway and listened.

It was quiet, and he cautiously opened the curtain and peeked out. In an adjoining room barely lit by a smoldering fireplace, a Hunter guard was busy stoking the dying embers. Cole pulled his hood over his face, and began his escape.

Getting past the distracted guard was easy enough, especially with the deep shadows in the room and the fickle light half-heartedly crackling as the hunter tried to spur it back to life.

Outside the guarded room Cole could see a glittering swath of stars exactly over his head, and nowhere else. It seemed he was underground, at least partially. The night sky was still violet from the setting sun, which meant Cole had spent less than a day in the Hunter's camp. This was good, his friends might still be okay if he found them in time.

The path in front of him was highlighted in pale silver for several yards, but disappeared back into shadow quickly. More yellow light gleamed around a corner. The black ninja stopped a moment and waited. It didn't seem to be moving, at least not toward him. Cole looked down at himself momentarily. Virtually invisible. Excellent.

The light turned out to be a lamp, a glowing clay bowl of coals hanging by chain from a spoke in the cliff wall. Staying directly outside the circle of light, Cole could see an entire ring of similar lamps casting soft glows on cliff walls and the windowsills of homes. Up above the stars offered sharp silver light on the ground, and the cliffs loomed black and menacing in front of them. The breath of air on Cole's eyes told him he was outside.

Skirting the edge of the camp, Cole stayed in the deepest shadows near the rock. He stayed clear of the shadowed homes, and even more clear of the homes with light in their windows and sounds of movement drifting out. It was after his second lap he encountered an imposing problem: he couldn't actually see a way out.

The whole camp seemed to be encircled about by cliffs. There were several dark corridors, most with lamps, leading into the rock faces. It was Cole's guess that most of these led to rooms similar to his own, and he didn't have time to try them all.

He considered the cliff faces. They weren't high, he could likely scale any of them with ease. The problem was he would likely dislodge something in the dark and draw attention, nevermind his need to see where he was putting his hands.

There was also his injured arm, which painfully reminded him it was there when Cole experimentally tried to pull himself up.

So climbing was a no-go.

It stood to reason, Cole thought, that there would be guards around any important entrances, including the exit. That would narrow down his search. His eyes were adjusting to the darkness, and he could see the moonlight reflecting in the deeper shadows a little better now. In some scattered areas he could see the metallic glint of armor.

After a short survey Cole discovered there were three guarded entrances. Two of them were framed by hanging lanterns, with guards in robes and helmets standing just outside in the shadows.

The remaining tunnel had no lanterns, and was guarded by four large men who stood so they could view every angle of approach, including behind them.

That had to be the one.

The master of earth waited in the shadows, not far from the guarded exit. He was in a bit of a pickle. The moonlight slanting in between the cliffs above perfectly illuminated the entire area. With no need for lanterns, the guards stood back to back, blocking the entire passageway. Cole would have to step out of the shadows, be seen, and pass through the barrier if he wanted to leave.

Without waking the entire camp.

Cole was still tired, still hungry, held captive by hunters, and couldn't use his left arm. He couldn't wait until morning, his friends might freeze in the desert. Not to mention it would be a lot easier to keep hidden and get as far as possible while the night shadows were darkest under the cliffs.

Once he was out, it would be very difficult to find him in the dark.

He decided to brute force this one.


	3. Chapter 3

The guards had no idea what hit them. They heard the telltale _whine_ of spinjitzu, saw the vortex zoom out of the shadows, and then they were unconscious on the ground while Cole bolted down the corridor.

At least, he tried to, but something hit his shins just above the ankle, and he went into a _painful_ safety roll that should _never be done on an injured arm._

He didn't cry out, he would never give himself away any more than he already was, even

as a hand grabbed the back of his gi and pulled him upright. Cole lashed out, but was met by a perfect counter even in the dark. Deftly his attacker slipped past him so the exit was once again blocked.

Cole could barely see in the dark corridor, but he lifted his good arm and started to lean on his toes. "Out of my way bub, before I throw you into next week."

The black ninja didn't wait for a response. He knew he was just as invisible as his opponent, and he planned to take advantage of it. He whirled into a spinjitzu cyclone, and charged.

Suddenly there was a _whine_ other than his own, and Cole's attack was deflected, bouncing him back to his defensive stance as he heard the spinning air die down.

No movement came from the dark, and Cole blinked rapidly. Was that actually…?

It was a simple move, the most basic of the basics. When fighting another opponent with spinjitzu, one countered a cyclone by spinning with them before they could suck you in, and the tornadoes would deflect each other. If you were really good, you could use this to knock your opponent into a wall or reel them into your own vortex.

Of course, whoever had performed the counter must be too inexperienced to try any of that, but seeing the simple move, a _spinjitzu_ move, in a _hunter_ camp in the _First Realm_ froze Cole in place.

That couldn't have been one of his friends, could it?

There was no sound in the corridor except the heavy breathing of Cole's opponent, but the pattern was unfamiliar. Cole had spent so much time awake at night, planning, worrying, and just dreaming that he knew the sound of all the ninja's breaths by heart.

Jay was quick and light, and every few minutes he paused for a deep breath or a grunt.

Kai breathed the same way he did when he was awake and training, like he never actually slowed down to rest.

Zane's was even, perfectly spaced.

Lloyd was so quiet you almost couldn't hear him, except for the gentle _woosh_ when he breathed out.

Cole's attacker obviously wasn't asleep, but there was nothing familiar in the sound. He didn't recognize this person. This person who, oddly enough, had yet to land another attack. The ninja could hear him breathing quite heavily, exhausted, but he'd made no effort to move. Cole knew for a fact he hadn't hurt him, since his attack had been deflected.

Maybe he was worn out, the ninja guessed. He didn't know why, they had fought barely a few minutes, but he wasn't about to lose his lucky break.

"See ya, pal." Cole breathed as he skirted past, continuing much more cautiously down the dark path.

* * *

The desert at night was peaceful, even serene. There was no sound, only the sight of the canyons looming dark and silent against the star-filled sky.

No dragons.

No hunters.

No problem.

Cole moved over the rock and sand like a ghost, his footsteps light and soundless. He used to live for nights like these, camping in the mountains with only the dark for company. He hadn't been alone on a night like this since he'd run into Sensei Wu.

Sensei Wu.

Cole frowned. There was that problem again, how was he going to find his friends? The desert was freezing, he had shed all his warmer layers when they were captured in Dead's End, and he knew his friends had too. They wouldn't last long on a night like this without moving.

He would have to keep moving as well.

So how could he make sure they didn't miss each other in the dark? It wasn't like they could yell for each other. They were likely too far apart for that to work anyway.

Cole stopped in the shadows, a wide swath of silver sand before him. He'd found the desert once again, and would have to make his search quickly before the heat of the day came. Leaning up against the wall, Cole mentally skimmed through his strategies.

He could leave a message, but other than the canyons themselves there was no point of reference to regroup at should any of his team find it.

Not to mention the hunters were about, which, Cole realized, would be a good thing to let the others know. Even if they couldn't find each other, the ninja had to know they were in danger. Nevermind hunters finding any message he left, they knew he was out here and were possibly already in pursuit. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to assume he hadn't come alone, especially if they were in cahoots with the Baron.

He had to warn his friends, and that was why a ninja always came prepared. Cole removed a pencil and paper from a secure pocket in his worn gi, and began writing with the night sky for light. He didn't have much room, especially when writing on his knee made his kanji big and loopy.

_Hunters._

_Beware._

Signed, _earth._

Cole paused. He'd signed it with his element, since that took up less room than his actual name, but how would they know it was really him?

He removed the knife he kept in his boot, and fingered it as it gleamed. It had been a gift from Kai, and bore the Smith family symbol.

That would do. Cole stuck the knife into a crack in the wall, pinning the piece of paper, and set off into the desert.


End file.
